Are You Living in a Free Country?

How much free are we in this world? Human Beings are supposed to be the "most intelligent" and the "strongest/most constructive species" on this planet, yet we are out to rip each other apart! Seeing the current state-of-affairs, Human Beings seem to be the "most stupid" and the "most destructive species" on this planet.

Since 1978, Freedom House has published 'Freedom in the World' (Freedom in the World, 2007 — Infoplease.com), an annual comparative assessment of the state of political rights and civil liberties around the world. The 600-page survey is considered a definitive report on freedom around the globe. The 2006 ratings reflect global events from Dec. 1, 2005, through Dec. 31, 2006. According to the survey:

• 90 countries are free - their 3.0 billion inhabitants (47% of the world's population) enjoy a broad range of rights.
• 58 countries with 1.1 billion people (30%) are considered partly free. Political rights and civil liberties are more limited in these countries, in which corruption, dominant ruling parties, or, in some cases, ethnic or religious strife is often the norm.
• 45 countries are not free. The 2.4 billion inhabitants (23%) of these countries, nearly one-half of whom live in China, are denied most basic political rights and civil liberties.
• The list features only independent countries. A separate list of territories indicates that four territories received the lowest possible : Chechnya (Russia), Kashmir (Pakistan Occupied), Tibet (China), and Western Sahara (Morocco); of those, Chechnya and Tibet also received the lowest possible civil liberties ratings."

So, there we are! Obviously, the listings can be "hotly" debated. But, whatever the errors in this report, it does give an indication of "HOW MUCH FREEDOM EXISTS IN THIS WORLD"! The task(s) for a "free world order" is "cut-out".

Now, WHAT is your plan?

The Economic Freedom Index of your Country

How much economic freedom exists in your country?

You can find it out at The Economic Freedom of the World Project which is devoted to "promoting economic freedom around the world". The network has member institutes in over 70 nations.

They define Economic Freedom as:

Individuals have economic freedom when property they acquire without the use of force, fraud, or theft is protected from physical invasions by others and they are free to use, exchange, or give their property as long as their actions do not violate the identical rights of others. An index of economic freedom should measure the extent to which rightly acquired property is protected and individuals are engaged in voluntary transactions.

James Gwartney and Robert Lawson et al.
Economic Freedom of the World: 1996 Annual Report

Their annual Economic Freedom of the World Report uses 42 distinct pieces of data to measure economic freedom in 141 nations. As per their latest report, the TOP rankings are:

1. Hong Kong (8.9/10)
2. Singapore (8.8)
3. New Zealand (8.5)
4. Switzerland (8.3)
5. United States, United Kingdom, Canada (8.1)

More at TOP: Estonia (8.0), Australia (7.9), and Ireland (7.9).

The rankings and scores of other large economies are:

• Germany, 18 (7.6)
• Japan, 22 (7.5)
• Mexico, 44 (7.1)
• France, 52 (7.0)
• Italy, 52 (7.0)
• India, 69 (6.6)
• China, 86 (6.3)
• Brazil, 101 (6.0)
• Russia, 112 (5.8)

At the bottom, we have Zimbabwe, Myanmar and the Democratic Republic of Congo with the lowest economic freedom ratings of the 141 countries measured.

Download the complete report with data tables here.

Let us Liberate China!

While we scratch our head on resolving the Tibet-China conflict, Pallavi Aiyar analyzes how China's main constituency is "domestic public" and not the international community. Worse, the majority of Chinese have "little awareness that there is a Tibet problem at all". She says (Sri Lanka Breaking News-Daily Mirror Online):

In school, Chinese youngsters are taught how the region has only benefited from Communist rule. The feudal theocracy of the Dalai Lama was replaced by the enlightened policies of the People’s Republic, they are told, with the result that Tibet has enjoyed rising living standards and economic development.

Thus while Chinese leaders have repeatedly, in recent weeks, stated that they are open to talks with the Dalai Lama, they reiterate the caveat that he must give up his demand for independence. The Dalai Lama in turn has repeatedly insisted that he has no such claim. The Chinese respond by pointing to the riots in Lhasa and hence the Dalai’s ‘obvious insincerity.’

And so on it goes, in circles.

Even were the government persuaded to attempt a compromise with the exiled leader, its room for manoeuvre is slim given the way the public views the situation. Any change in Beijing’s position, including talks with the Dalai Lama, would appear as bowing to foreign pressure and failing to respond firmly to violence.... ..... given the Chinese reaction there is little cause to believe any fundamental shift in Tibet’s situation will be precipitated.

So, if the Chinese citizens are in 'DARK', then let us 'ENLIGHTEN' them.

The "Darkness" has been dented: the same report says:

Given this background, the TV footage and photographs of rampaging monks in Lhasa and elsewhere attacking Han civilians and security forces have bewildered many Chinese.

The "Sleep" has been disturbed, and after the initial shock, let us see if Chinese can FREE themselves of their prejudices.

More than Tibetans, it is the Chinese who NEED FREEDOM. Tibetans have nothing to lose. They lost their country half a century ago, but they have WON the world.

Free World Order

Robin D.G. Kelley wrote, "Malcolm X has been called many things:

Pan-Africanist, father of Black Power, religious fanatic, closet conservative, incipient socialist, and a menace to society. The meaning of his public life — his politics and ideology — is contested in part because his entire body of work consists of a few dozen speeches and a collaborative autobiography whose veracity is challenged. Malcolm has become a sort of tabula rasa, or blank slate, on which people of different positions can write their own interpretations of his politics and legacy. Chuck D of the rap group Public Enemy and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas can both declare Malcolm X their hero."

He is supposed to have declared, "Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you're a man, you take it."

So, should we fight for freedom?

Or, can we effortlessly move towards a Free World Order?

Daniel Quinn, Beyond Civilization: Humanity's Next Great Adventure, says:

Old minds think:
If it didn't work last year, let's do MORE of it this year.

New minds think:
If it didn't work last year, let's do something ELSE this year.

Old minds think:
How do we stop these bad things from happening?

New minds think:
How do we make things the way we want them to be?

The Free World Order , talks about BUILDING FREEDOM and challenges us to THINK AND DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT!

Probably, FREEDOM is simply about continually GROWING beyond our known (and hidden) constraints!

Unless you try to do something
beyond what you have already mastered,
you will never grow.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

So, what are your NEW THOUGHTS on Free World Order?

The Golden Dream

According to the Book of Later Han history, in the year 64 AD, Emperor Ming was said to have dreamed one night of a golden person standing 20 metres tall and with a radiating white aureola flying from the West.

The next day one of his ministers explained to him that he had probably dreamed of the Buddha from India. The emperor then sent a delegation of 18 headed by to seek out Buddhism.

They returned, in 68 AD, with two Indian monks, on the back of a white horse, with the Sutra of Forty-two Chapters.

While these monks started translating the sutras, the emperor ordered the construction of China's First Buddhist temple - The White Horse Temple, about seven miles away from the city of Louyang, Henan Province.

Earlier, in 2005, the governments of India and China had declared their intention to jointly construct an Indian-style Buddhist temple on the western side of the historic White Horse Temple, in Luoyang. Work on that temple will complete by June 2008, said Ambassador Nirupama Rao. It would be styled as Sanchi with a Buddha statue modelled after Sarnath.

A few months back, the Chinese government had invited India to build The First Hindu temple in China. The invitation was extended to the Swaminarayan Trust that runs the Akshardham temples in Noida and in Gandhinagar, to build a similar temple.

A Buddhist Greek & Tibetans in Greece

E-sangha, Buddhist Forum and Buddhism Forum: Tibetans in GreeceImage Source: AFP

A Buddhist Greek blogger has posted about Tibetans expressing themselves in Greece:

"Can I just mention how bizarre it was for me as a Greek person to see Greek police wrestling with Tibetans?"

The original report by AFP is here.

When will Tibet be free of this conflict?